What does it mean to submit a card for grading with SGC or PSA with a “minimum grade” requirement? What are the pros and cons of this service option? Let’s take a look at SGC and PSA minimum grade policies, so you can make the best choice with your submission.
One key takeaway to remember is that while both SGC and PSA allow minimum grade requests on crossovers, PSA now provides the option for raw cards as well.
What is “Minimum Grade”?
But first, what does “minimum grade” even mean? Simply, this is the minimum grade you are willing to accept for a card to be encased and graded. If your card does not meet your specified minimum grade, it is returned to you as-is.
For example, let’s say you have a modern 1/1 card. Often, collectors decide to leave them raw. After all, there’s only 1, so there’s no competition. And many 1/1 are thick cards or printing plates that generally do not grade well. With a “minimum grade” submission, you can decide to have the card slabbed only if it is a 9 or higher, for example.
With PSA you can also indicate that, if not a 9 (for our example), you would like it slabbed as A (Authentic). Or lastly, the card can be returned to you as-is. In all of those cases, you are still assessed a full grading fee.
PSA Brings Back Minimum Grade for Raw Cards
PSA has had an on again / off again / on again relationship with allowing “minimum grade” requests for raw cards. It suspended minimum grade requests in March 2023 amid a backlog. But just last week, PSA announced a return of minimum grade requests for raw cards. You just need to indicate as such on the submission form.
There is no raw card minimum grade submission option for SGC, but SGC does take minimum grade requests for crossovers. But what’s a crossover, you ask?
Raw Cards vs. Crossovers
The PSA announcement applies to raw card submissions. This is different from “crossovers,” where collectors have always been able to specify minimum grade with either SGC or PSA.
This is similar to the 1/1 example above. But in this case you would be submitting a graded card for regrading and hopefully “crossing over” to your grader of choice.
For example, let’s say you have a PSA 4 that looks severely under graded, and want to cross over to SGC, but only if the grade improves to 5 or better. Again, you just submit as a crossover with a minimum grade of 5.The grader still assesses the grading fee regardless of whether that minimum grade is achieved.
Some collectors think that cracking a card and resubmitting as raw avoids any potential grader bias. With the return of minimum grade for raw cards at PSA, you now have more control over the process. Cardhound explains the “crack / resubmit” trend in more detail here.
Tip: Keep in mind that evaluating cards through plastic–sometimes multiple layers–is difficult, and the grader needs to be 100% confident of the minimum requested grade in order to crack the case. Even if the card can pull a 6 on close evaluation, you’ll have cards returned in the old slab less often if you can stomach a lower minimum grade request. A grader might crack a “min grade 5” and decide that it is a 6 once evaluated raw. But it’s a risk.
In Summary . . .
- Only PSA allows raw card submissions with a minimum grade specified.
- PSA also allows an “A” (Authentic) request if minimum grade is not met–useful for 1/1 and rare cards.
- Both SGC and PSA allow minimum grade requests for crossovers.
- In all cases, the grading fee will be assessed regardless.
